About the object

"Sympathique" Watch No. 1, accompanied by the Master Clock. A)Unique gold gentleman's astronomical wristwatch, with 1 minute tourbillon, regulator dial, phase and age of the moon, and winding indicator, automatically wound and set to exact time by the accompanying Clock. Delivered with both gold and leather bracelets with double deployant buckles and a pair-case in gold enabling the wristwatch to be transformed into pocket watch.\nB)Unique gold astronomical clock with phase and age of the moon, equation of time, centigrade thermometer, year calendar with month and date, and days of the week. Constructed on the principals of the "garde-temps", with "remontoire", visible chronometer escapement and winding indicator.\n\nA)\nCase:\nWristwatch; 18 ct., circular, massive and polished with reeded band, the classic Breguet s with an ingenious quick-release system for removing and re-mounting the bracelets.\n\nPocket watch:\n18 ct., two body, half-hunting form, engine-turned à grains d'orge, with aperture to reveal the dial, the cover opened by a button in the pendant, and locked closed by a bolt in the band.\n\nDial:\nRegulator type, silvered and engine-turned, signed: "Breguet No. 1", the subsidiary hour ring with engraved Roman numerals, outer minute ring with Arabic 10 minute numerals, and subsidiary seconds on the edge of the tourbillon aperture. Sector for the up-and-down scale calibrated for 36 hours and an aperture for the moon phase with the age engraved on the border. Blued-steel Breguet hands.\n\nMovement:\nMaillechort, 13"', with fausses cOtes decoration, 23 jewels, lateral lever escapement and monometallic screw balance. Blued-steel Breguet autocompensating balance spring. One minute tourbillon with equidistant three-arm polished steel carriage driven off the third wheel. Mechanism for the instantaneous re-setting of the minute hand to exact time every two T ours mounted under the dial, and correcting the watch for a difference of up to plus-or-minus five minutes, controlled through the winding crown by the clock, along with the automatic rewinding, whenever the watch is placed in the location provided. An autonomy of 24 hours is assured from a rewinding period of 8 hours.\nDiam. 36 mm. B)\nCase:\n18 ct., Empire style, glazed on four sides and hermetically sealed. Applied hand-chased mounts on all sides, inset against a matted ground, with stylised flower heads around the base, the centre motifs terminating with palm foliage, the flat section corinthian pilasters capped by sun flowers. Recessed panels and the top plate all engine-turned à grains d'orge. Spirally gadrooned bun feet, and turned finials of slightly flattened form with substantial folding handle chased with flowers and lotus leaves and supported by lion heads. Signed on an oval polished white gold plaque at the base: "Breguet - Sympathique - No. 1". Calendar adjustment and hand-setting by means of a female square and push-pieces inset flush into the side pilasters. Hinged and rising bezel allowing the watch to be inserted with either the gold or leather bracelet still partly attached.\n\nDial:\nSilvered and engine-turned, signed: " Breguet, No. 1", with Roman hour numerals on a plain reserve. Blued-steel Breguet hands. Giltmetal engine-turned dial mask, with sectorshaped apertures for month with date to the left, week day to the right, and sectors above for equation of time on the left and bimetallic thermometer to the right. Moon phase visible at the back of the wristwatch compartment, with blue enamel and gold disk, the age engraved on the border.\n\nMovement:\nFrosted and gilt brass, eight-day going, the twin barrels mounted in the base and wound by a retractable lever below the bottom plate, providing power for both the clock itself and Xe winding and hand-setting of the wristwatch. Remontoire train and the escapement mounted on a horizontal triangular platform rewinding at intervals of 5 seconds. Spring detent escapement, with gold escape wheel, Guillaume balance in brass and invar, with old and platinum adjusting screws. Twin helical gold balance springs, mounted above and below the balance, and working in apposition. Engraved silvered sector for up-and-down scale on the movement top plate.\nDim. 255 x 170 x 125 mm. Estimate: SFr. * *

notes

Contained within a fitted burr-thuya wood cabinet, the edge embellished in green, with curved top and divided and hinged front doors, the interior lined with beige chamois leather, a drawer in the base for tale bracelets, pocket watch case and setting key.

Lot 204 (continued The Sympathique watch represents a final development of the idea originally conceived by Abraham- Louis Breguet during his exile in Switzerland between 1793 and 1795, and about which he wrote to his son: ".......I expect from this the greatest promotion of our fame and fortune." Although the history of their development is discussed in the note for lot 100, it may be summarised as follows: The first examples made in 1795 only set the watch to time. The second type developed circa 1805 set to time and regulated the watch. The third system set to time and wound the watch. All known examples of the last type are fitted to pendulum clocks with the exception of one, made by Rabi in 1812. The most refined and elegant are considered to be those created in gilt bronze cases with constant force escapement and double helical gold balance springs for the horizontal balance, perhaps the most famous being the example bought by Demidoff for the Czar of Russia; another in a simple wooden case was sold to George IV and is now in the Royal collection and currently on view in the British Museum. This latest masterpiece from the House of Breguet is both unique and revolutionary in several aspects of its construction. For the first time the principle of the sympathique has been applied to a wristwatch. Furthermore, the clock runs and performs the required operations to the watch for a period of 8 days, whereas the original balance wheel examples had a duration of 56 hours, even without the addition of a complex calendar and equation of time. A total of approximately 15000 hours were required for its completion, with 35 people involved in its design and construction. The case is made from 471 different pieces, including 91 screws and contains a total weight of gold of approximately 4500 grams. The movement of the clock consists of 680 pieces, the watch 220 pieces, with the various other parts combining to a total of 1400 pieces. The Sympathique watch No. 1 is an unique piece, and no other example of such a complicated form or style will be made again for a minimum of 25 years.

Enlarged view of the clock-escapement A connate wheel of SO teeth drives the pinion cf znheel A. Wheel A engages the fly E and the 'floating' znheel B which is mounted in a carriage on the 'V' draped lever F, pivoted at point C and terminating with a locking pin at point H. This locking pin also extends below the lever and rests on the far side of the spring J. 'Floating' wheel B also engages the pinion of Wheel C, which in t u rn drives the pinion of the escape wheel D. If power is applied to wheel A, the fly E revolves along with wheel B which then draws the lever Firwards (clockwise) patting the spring J under tension. Once the pin H interrupts the fly E, the remontoir train stops. However the lever F is now under load prowl the spring J. Since the pimon of wheel A is locked, the load is transferred by the wheel B to the pinion of Wheel C, which engages to the escape wheel. Lever F retreats as the escapement unlocks until the pin H releases the fly again. Train is 14'400 With 112 seconds beating balance.